Male skink with a red head and a female black rat snake
Male skinks have red heads in spring
Emerging after a long, cold winter
Green caterpillar hat
See the tiny caterpillar??
Climbing up the tree, this female is spreading her scent…
Climbing…
Ssssss
Aaaannd back in the hole
And who’s this?
A gentleman caller?
Into the nest…(and check out a third snake up higher in the branch in the background!)
Slithering…
Heyyy!
Snake yawn?
Snake smile?
Love is in the air
Scandelous snakes!
Check out their lighter colored bellies
Wrapped
Snake acrobats
Snake…
Cirque du soleil
Hanging snakes
Twisted snakes
Baby watching from the window of our house!
Like ropes!
See you around snakes! Hopefully well before I step on you!!! AGGHH!
The female went back into her nest in the tree and the male slithered off under our deck/house. These antics went on for hours today. It was so crazy to watch! They are nonpoisonous black rat snakes. We spotted them once in 2009 and once in 2012. We have never seen any babies hatch (maybe this year?!) Are we hosting a colony of these? AGgggghhhh! Cool and amazing, but pretty freaky too!
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This is completely amazing! I saw a black rat snake once (here in suburban St. Louis) and it freaked me out — large snake! I read that they climb trees but actually seeing it is another thing altogether. So I guess you’re not going to climb up there to take photos of the nest for us? :)
No I will not be climbing the tree (or any tree!) any time soon hahaha. But I think they are here to stay so will keep enjoying them from a safe distance!! Really, the only “bad” thing about them is their scary (but cool!) looks!
Gorgeous and amazing photos. I think you nailed the awesomeness this week, what with a snake with a green caterpillar hat, cirque de Soleil amorous snakes and snakes in a hole AND snake breeding within a stones through of your house. You WIN Ms Spy! I bet the kids were UBER excited by it all. Snakes are like Pitbulls. They have a bad reputation that they really don’t deserve. We have a natural fear of them but flip side…no rats. :)
Thanks! They are mesmerizing and I have a new hobby which is: stare at the trees in my yard looking for climbing snakes (which we have spottted them several more times and will post more snake pictures soon!)! I’ve never seen a rat in/around our house, maybe this is why!
I am guessing that’s exactly why Ms Spy! ;)
Wow, fascinating, despite the creep factor! The kids must have loved it. You chronicled the mating in great detail. It is rather acrobatic. Interesting that you see it only every 3 years. I just looked them up and because egg production takes so much out of the female (a third of her body weight) she only reproduces every 2-3 years. It takes 9 yrs. for her to gain sexual maturity. So she is at least 15, by that reckoning.
I know they are benign and good to have as predators of small rodents, but it is startling when you come upon them suddenly – yikes! I’m a big screamer or maybe ‘yelper’ is a better description when startled. Cool post!
We have spotted them several more times (more pics coming soon!) and mating AGAIN to boot! Definitely startling…and mesmerizing!
Better than TV! ;-)
How pretty and, well, terrifying! I’d never have dared to come this close to take photographs, that’s so brave of you :-)
Didn’t really have much choice in the matter hahaha They live right outside my front door! But yes, they are quite graceful!
Great picture story. We recently had a large black snake invade one of our bluebird houses. Oh dear!
Thanks! Yes, better for them to eat rats and mice than bluebirds!